


take flight

by Triteas



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-06 16:22:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triteas/pseuds/Triteas
Summary: The one where drunk!Haru unknowingly becomes a wingman for his best friends.





	1. Mars, 20:39

**Author's Note:**

> The fic inspiration was from the AU prompt: “mutual drunk friend called BOTH of us to pick them up from a party well this is awkward” AU” by @jh0ltz on tumblr that I saved in my Tumblr drafts probably 5 years ago :’)
> 
> (tags + summary may change in the future)

Haru can already feel the pounding headache and his knees getting bruised as he clutches onto the toilet, staring down at the fifth—maybe sixth—tequila shot of that night. His vision is blurred, and he really doesn’t think he can stand without tripping on his own feet. He hopes that even in his drunken stupor, he can hope to remember who exactly was the catalyst as he beams on the other end of the table.

“Haru-chan~” Nagisa drones, wiping away the excess alcohol from his chin with the back of his sleeve. The pink flush of alcohol brought more light to his eyes with an accompanying glint of mischievousness. “Let’s do one more?”

Haru’s brows crease as he grips the table for balance and slowly processes the idea of taking another shot, focusing all of his attention on his hands. He mistakenly thought it would be ‘one more’ two shots ago, but now he's in a real predicament that he wasn’t anticipating tonight. Haru’s gaze follows the tips of his fingers, down the table and to Nagisa’s chest, finally looking up in surrender and meets the eye of a smirking Nagisa who Haru is now hypothesizing as the devils reincarnate.

“I, um, think we should go,” Haru manages, closing his eyes and breathing slowly, starting to fully feel the effects of tequila rummaging his brain and body. Nagisa belts out a laugh and smacks the table with his hand. His whole being absolutely glimmering under the dim pub lights while watching the stoic Haru fall apart.

Nagisa then rests his elbow on the table and leans his head against his hand, slightly pouting, “but we didn’t even go over why you called me out tonight.”

Haru stares then ignores him and reaches in his back pocket for his phone. He is thankful for face recognition while he thumbs for his messages and hopes his text comes across as very urgent. Sirens in his head at least are blaring and yelling at him to abort.

_hey. level 10 emregency. im drunk on campus. pick me up pls_

After hitting send, Haru aggressively slams his hands on the table and stands up from his side of the table. Albeit unbalanced, he joins Nagisa on the other side of the booth. He slings an arm over the smaller boy who graciously accepts and leans into the touch while giggling. “Listen, Nagisa.”

“yes, Haru-chan?”

“I fucking love you.”

Nagisa grins in victory and sadistic glory.

* * *

 

_hey. level 10 emregency. im drunk on campus. pick me up pls_

Sousuke looks down between his phone and his clock perched at the corner of his desk and pauses what he was watching.

_The fuck? It’s 8pm._

_On a Tuesday._

Given, Sousuke can’t really speak much on his own situation, putting down his phone to go back to his cup noodles and some random rom-com he put on. He was a season deep, so he argued (to himself) that he was too invested to stop. All he really remembered from today was the daily early morning practice, getting back to his dorm with some childlike aspirations to study then taking a nap that lasted well into the afternoon. You’d think after three rounds of painful, sleep-deprived midterm seasons, he could properly handle and schedule himself.

Before he could even re-hit play, guilt consumes him and he pinches the bridge of his nose. Sousuke sighs heavily, dragging himself to face his reflection and attempt to look presentable enough to leave the comfort of his room. He drags his hand down his face and stretches his arms and joints slightly, working through the muscles that have become tense due to sitting all day. He shrugs on his team’s hoodie and grabs his phone.

_On my way._

* * *

 

_hey. level 10 emregency. im drunk on campus. pick me up pls_

Rin nearly drops his coffee mug in shock as he opens Haru’s text. He looks down at the basket of groceries he has slung on his forearm then quickly replies.

_what?? with who though?_

_are you ok?_

Rin's mind works through all the possibilities of why and how Haru would be drunk at this time. He double checks the date in case he missed an important event or birthday that he forgot about, but everything still seems normal. The morning exchanges were no different either. He paces through the produce section in hopes to finish the grocery trip off, but the whole two minutes of Haru not replying and Haru being _drunk_ concludes him with the idea that they’re having pizza tonight. He knew he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a red onion and a green onion with how high his anxiety is at the moment.

_ill be there in 10_

Apologetically, Rin hands off his partially-full basket to an employee who glares at him in complete annoyance. He shudders under the gaze even after he’s two blocks away.

* * *

 

“—gonna fucking ask me to pick you up. Pick up your god damn phone.”

Sousuke huffs in agreement at an overheard conversation by someone who half-jogs past him on the sidewalk. Maybe 8pm on a Tuesday is the new Friday night, Sousuke contemplates. His gaze is locked on the ground and hidden under the cap he threw on after practically soaking his hair with water in attempt to tame his cowlicks from napping with damp hair after practice. It also doesn’t help that the air is brisk, a headache already building from his hair freezing. He curses silently at underestimating the temperature and distance of the campus pub. He pulls out his phone again in hope that Haru updated him, so he can turn around and continue his very productive day, but of course, it can’t be that easy and Sousuke glares at the empty wallpaper.

He finally looks up at his surroundings as small dots of snow cover his screen to only realize he’s at the edge of a parking lot. Dim lights evenly scattered the expanse of the empty lot as Sousuke tries to squint at what building was at the end of it. It looks familiar, so he isn’t _totally_ lost, but it definitely was not the way he was supposed to be going. Sousuke stills and slowly brings up Google Maps in utter defeat and quiet shame.

With an audible groan, he whips back around and realizes he was on autopilot and went through the alleyway to the aquatic centre, which in his luck, was on the opposite side of campus of where he was supposed to be.

* * *

 

Rin walks in the pub and is instantly hit with blaring pop music and the smell of regret and grease. The pub was as typical as every university pub, with dimmed lights and conversation that has to be yelled over the overbearing music. Booths lined the walls while tables scattered the empty flooring that was probably cleared and used as a dance floor on the weekends.

Rin bypasses the empty host desk and takes note of the small crowd scattered around the room. There were typical groups of adults that seemed way too tired and a younger population with wide eyes that screamed the excitement of being able to legally drink for the first time without parent supervision. He continues to scan the room while calling Haru's phone for probably the tenth time. Rin zeroes in on a very familiar laugh and his heart stills as he trudges towards it and confirms the source.

“Out of all people,” Rin grumbles, his anxiety diminishing and pitch rising with each second of realization, “it’s fucking Nagisa? Really?!”

“Now, Rin-chan,” Nagisa scolds with feigned guilt and a pout, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Rin can even reply, he’s being slung under the right arm of the boy he thought was drugged in a ditch somewhere or walking down the alley with a strange man. “Hi, Rin.”

“Hey, you fucking asshole who doesn't pick up his phone,” leaning away from the drunkard that is now Haru and restraining the urge of just kicking him in the leg. Rin scrunches his nose at his breath and the full weight Haru pushes onto him as he grins like a disturbing cheshire cat.

“I don’t say this enough—” Haru starts, but pauses at a burp that dangerously feels like bile. He brings his right fist in front of his mouth which effectively chokes Rin who cries out in surprise and forcefully pries the arm from his neck. “—excuse me. I just wanted to say. I appreciate you. You're a good guy.”

Rin’s eye twitches and he feels the urge to just sit down at the table Nagisa is still occupying, with a very proud and playful smile, and order himself enough drinks to match Haru’s current state. Instead, he closes his eyes and sighs, knowing Haru won’t recover from this without a hangover which from experience, is more terrifying than dealing with an affectionate Haru. Rin pats Haru on the shoulder and gestures him back to the table, “yeah, I know. Why don’t we drink some water?”

The waitress comes by, welcomes Rin's presence and drops off the waters requested for the trio. Haru sits across from Rin and Nagisa, mindlessly drinking the water that was set in front of him, relishing in the cool smooth liquid that doesn’t burn going down your throat. He closes his eyes and thinks about swimming in the ocean. Rin, who insisted on sitting beside Nagisa, gives him two harsh pats to his back in greeting.

“So, it's been a while,” Rin prompts, on a final hit on Nagisa’s back who grunts in response, “care to explain what’s happening, Nagisa?”

Haru puts down his glass and cocks his head to the side, “I think I invited him? I kind of forgot why..." 

“You..invited him?” Rin questions, pausing between each word as if it would make more sense by doing so. Concern flashes Rin’s face and he darts between Haru, who looks incredibly enthralled in his own statements, and the flushed Nagisa who gives Rin a sheepish smile with raised eyebrows. He breaks eye contact with Rin and shares the same concern as he looks across from him.

“Haru? Let’s go.”

Everyone’s eyes shoot up to the man towering over the table, his shadow taking up the small amount of light that the table was provided with. Rin squints to make out the face in the poorly lit room and can somehow see eyes that combat the beauty of Haru’s blue ones looking down with a harsh scowl. Rin looks down at the guy's sweater whose shoulders are slightly damp from the snow that Rin noticed falling on his way here. He takes note of the prominent logo across the chest.  _Haru's teammate...?_ Rin guesses. He still feels concerned since it looks like the guy's about to just abduct Haru with how he decided to sneak in.

Nagisa lets out a laugh, barely containing himself between words, “you texted Sou-chan, too? Were you _that_ scared?”

"Really, Haru? Nagisa?" Sousuke questions, nodding at the giggling blonde mess. Nagisa stops laughing and crosses his arms. He looks away and huffs stubbornly about not being appreciated. 

Haru recognizes the voice and looks up with a deadpan expression, “you got lost, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t.”

“You totally did.”

“No.”

“Oh,” Haru realizes, leaning back in his chair. He lets out a chuckle which morphs into a laugh, “I thought I sent something to two people. I think I added Rin because I knew _you_ wouldn’t get here early enough. This is perfect.”

Nagisa joins in the laughter and proceeds to prompt a high-five from Haru across the table who gladly accepts. Rin props an elbow on the table and holds his head in his hand in annoyance, slightly hurt for being second-choice. He flashes back to inconveniencing the grocery store employee with utter guilt, knowing full well the memory will live on during those random nights of trying to fall asleep to be woken up due to his anxiety from something small he did five years ago. Rin realizes ‘Sou-chan’ didn’t react and he looks up to meet the same reaction of annoyance—maybe also murderous intent—Rin isn’t sure. The should really fix the lighting in here.

“Nanase,” the syllables are strained with how tight Sousuke’s jaw is, “let’s. Go.”

Haru looks up in seriousness, "don't worry, Sousuke. I still do like you past your lack of direction" 

Sousuke contemplates drowning Haru. He really wouldn't really mind it, and Sousuke wouldn't have to deal with his shit anymore. Nagisa surprisingly springs up before any real brawls break out, “since your body guards are gathered, I should probably leave too.”

Rin rolls his eyes at the comment and watches him fumble while grabbing his bag under the table, nearly concussing himself by standing up while still underneath it. Nagisa narrowly misses it and jumps up, saluting the group.

“We can walk you home, Nagisa,” Rin catches himself at the given room for argument, “No, we are definitely walking you home.”

“It’s okay,” the blonde boy grins, skipping to where Haru is and ruffling his hair as a goodbye. Haru stands and captures him into a bear hug with, thankfully, no tears as he says his farewells. Nagisa peeks his head around the side of Haru, “Rei-chan has been outside for, like, twenty minutes.”

“Did he not want to come in?” Rin asks.

“Huh. I didn’t think about asking,” reality dawning upon Nagisa while simultaneously reality feeling like a dream at this point for Rin because his friends aren't this idiotic, right? Right?

Nagisa finally waves it off with a giggle, “he’s probably studying in his car anyway.”

Rin and Sousuke both say their monotonous goodbyes, their eyes trailing him until he reaches the exit. Haru continues on indulging on everyone’s water at the table after another was dropped off when Sousuke decided to just stand around them for ten minutes. In between sips, Haru scrolls through his phone mindlessly. 

Sousuke looks towards Rin this time and gestures towards the front door. “Shouldn’t you follow—?”

Two long blares of the horn from outside are distinctly heard over the music, disrupting and answering Sousuke’s question. Rin sends a mental apology to Rei as he imagines Nagisa shoving himself over the steering wheel and swerving the car to pronounce his safety in the most paradoxical way. Rin shakes his head and gestures for the bill to the waitress who nods and disappears between swinging doors. Rin looks up once again to a scowling Sousuke who watches Haru be amused by dolphin videos on his phone.

“Are you, uh, going to sit?” Rin asks, having a small urge to just smooth over the harsh lines off the man’s face. Premature wrinkles are going to be a bitch if you’re scowling like that all the time, my friend.

“I’m okay standing,” Sousuke nods, looking down towards Rin instead of wasting more energy glaring at Haru. Sousuke’s eyes are immediately drawn to the maroon hair, tucked effortlessly in a bun that hangs low on his neck while the other stray strands frame his face. Rin pushes some hair out of his face under the stare, raising a brow slightly. Sousuke shakes his head and reaches out his hand, “Yamazaki Sousuke, by the way.”

Rin grins in response, flashing his teeth, “Matsuoka Rin.”

“Aw,” Haru coos, putting away his card after paying the bill and noticing the handshake, “my two bros becoming bros.”

“Alright, we’re getting you home,” Rin sighs, fully pushing his hair out of his face and gesturing for him to stand up. He looks under the booth and grabs the duffel bag on Haru’s side, crossing it over the small backpack he was already wearing. Rin stands and is finally able to grasp Sousuke’s height instead of seeing him as an actual skyscraper, Rin catches his gaze under his hat and mentions, “I’m actually Haru’s roommate, so I can just walk him back to our place. Do you live on campus?”

“Yeah, I do,” Sousuke observes Haru almost tripping while getting out of his seat and shoots out his arms for Haru to grasp on for dear life. Haru laughs and praises Sousuke’s fast reaction speed. “I think I should walk with you. Does Haru live in the same place?”

Rin looks up at him in curiosity, “he’s been there a while, yeah.”

“Guess we should catch up with him then.”

They both speed walk to catch up with Haru who disappeared behind the doorway.


	2. Moon, 00:52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing small talk sucks because I, too, suck at small talk.

Glints of the rare snowfall scatter in a random pattern under the streetlights that line the main road. The wind is still, but the streets are quietly bustling of small clusters of caffeine induced students during midterm season. They laze their way through with muted conversation or jovial laughter, piercing the air; some move towards the library or the small cafe that hugs the corner of the street and others squeeze their way past Rin and Sousuke.

When they push past the doors, Rin shudders at the temperature drop. His choice of a leather jacket unhelpful as the cool fabric wicks away any source of body heat. Rin tries relaxing his muscles that tense at the cold while scanning the immediate vicinity. Both he and Sousuke turning heads in contrasting directions like parents looking for their lost child.

“Found him.” Rin zeroes in on the raven-haired male doing his own sobriety test at the back corner of the building that faces the alley. Harus’s arms are stretched out to the side in balance and he takes timid paces to connect his heel to his opposite toe while following a crack on the sidewalk. He’s intensely focused with the task at hand, brows slightly pinched together with wide eyes that follow the ground carefully. Rin’s fascinated that this —  trying to follow a straight line (on a very not-straight, curved crack on the road) — and swimming freestyle are what shows the most passion in Haru. A blinding flash disrupts Haru and he stumbles backward, he shoots a glowering look at Sousuke, but returns to his original activity, retracing his steps to start over. Rin makes a mental note to ask Sousuke for the picture before they part ways.

“Okay,” Rin sighs. “Haru, it’s freezing. Let’s go.” His enjoyment of watching a child like Haru ends quickly when he starts to really feel the cold. A creeping numbness in his toes and his partially exposed legs from his distressed jeans weren’t a good sign if they stayed out here all night.

“I’m…” Haru starts, looking towards Rin, or rather, through Rin. “fucked.”

“No shit,” Sousuke crosses his arms and shakes his head. “Good luck at practice tomorrow.”

Haru stumbles towards Sousuke and attempts to wrap his arm over the other’s broad shoulders. Rin guesses a close-proximity lecture about the healing properties of water that Rin’s been on the other end of many times. With tippy toes and an effortful stretch of his torso, Haru tries to reach for Sousuke's neck until he stumbles onto Sousuke's right side. To Rin's surprise, Sousuke violently jolts and both of them nearly collapse to a heap on the floor before Sousuke stabilizes and holds both their weight.

Besides the abruptness, he doesn’t see any real awkward movement that would’ve made Sousuke fall, but Rin anticipates a fight he’s really not wanting to stand around for. Instead, as they both find their bearings and stand, he notices pain mangling Sousuke’s face and Haru looking instantly sober in that moment.

“Shit, Sousuke. Sorry. You okay?”

Haru slowly unravels himself and his arm in the most delicate manner while Sousuke takes huffing breaths, mixed with both irritation and pain. Rin’s eyes are trained on the rising and falling of Sousuke's back that was facing him and he watches as he waves Haru off with some mumbling that Rin can’t hear. After the exchange, Sosuke stands and rolls his shoulders tentatively. He then faces Rin with an exhausted expression.

“Rin. How about I take his bag and you can take,” Sousuke jerks his head towards Haru’s direction “that.”

Haru opens his mouth to comment, but falters and looks away while crossing his arms. 

“Lucky me.” Rin says sarcastically, but accepts Sousuke's offer, unslinging the duffel bag off his shoulder. Haru’s bag is abnormally heavy for a single morning practice, but Rin knows it's just stuffed with his collection of identical jammers that  _ ‘fit differently, Rin. Of course they’re not the same. What kind of question is that.’ _

He hands it off to Sousuke who hangs it over his left shoulder. Rin decides to just let Haru rest his weight on him by grabbing Haru’s wrist and slipping under his arm. Haru accepts and looks relieved at his improved stability. Rin gets struck with instant deja vu.

“I feel like I'm on a night out with Natsuya,” Rin's nose crinkles in realization. Haru huffs at the comparison as they finally begin hobbling back home. Rin notices an odd tension between the two while they walk in silence. He decides to use it to his advantage by finally soothing some of his curiosity.

“So, how do you know Nagisa?” He looks past Haru's hair at Sousuke who's trailing slightly behind them.

Sousuke considers the question for a moment, trying to pinpoint a formal introduction between them that he finally realizes never happened. He shrugs, “through swimming, I guess?”

“He was “dark brooding Mako-chan” from middle school,” Haru slurs, remembering Nagisa's nickname that was coined after a young Nagisa passed him in an arena lobby during a tournament.

Sousuke's steps stutter, “What.”

Haru purses his lips at what he just said and looks away.

“You never mentioned this.”

“Because... I wasn’t supposed to…?” Haru’s voice trails off into an incoherent mumble that Rin hardly hears even though Haru’s basically talking into his ear. Rin pries through distant memories and remembers the familiar name and is thrown back to middle school lunches with Nagisa. In particular, Rin’s reminded of one of many Nagisa impressions. Where he would pull his bangs slightly upward with one hand to make them appear shorter and over exerted his face into the harshest frown Nagisa could muster. Being the least intimidating (that is, only in looks) middle schooler there was, no one was able to figure out who the hell he was talking about even with his (unhelpful) description of ‘Mako-chan’s literal evil twin, I swear!’

“ _ You're  _ ‘dark brooding Mako-chan?” Rin howls in laughter, reveling at seeing this person everyone assumed was a fictional projection by Nagisa. His laughter continuing for way too long, but separated by small pity apologies as he watches Sousuke thinking of torture methods for the entire Iwatobi middle school clique.

“I’m leaving,” Sousuke turns to walk away.

“Wait, no!” Haru cries, slightly whining. “You can’t see. You’ll get lost and end up in a ditch and I don’t want to explain that to coach.”

Rin sees his back muscles tense considerably under his thin hoodie as he now stomps, his fists shaking in his pockets from an overwhelming amount of annoyance.

“Haru texted me in the middle of a grocery store run,” Rin shouts after him, slowly collecting himself despite the small tears he quickly wipes away with his free hand. “I was going to get pizza. You can join if you want!”

He can practically hear Sousuke’s stomach growl by how quick he is to stop and turn around. Haru snorts at his priorities and they continue walking through the dark, mostly unoccupied outside roads of campus. Rin more so dragging himself and limping due to Haru deciding to periodically not walk for himself and leaning his entire body weight onto the other. They almost fall and Sousuke considers offering they switch before Rin shoots a decimating death glare at Haru who straightens up and walks properly.

“We have canned mackerel too,” Haru ponders after a short silence, but long after the topic of conversation was over. To be fair, it wasn’t to contribute to any conversation, but a reminder for himself. Sousuke physically cringes in disgust.

Rin, tightens Haru’s wrist and gently hits his head against Haru's before he loses him in a mackerel day dream, “no. You're capped for the week.”

Sousuke smirks hearing Haru’s annoyed ‘tch’ but wants to pry further to add to his growing arsenal of things that aggravate Haru, “capped?”

“When Haru just moved to his new apartment, he ate mackerel like a child would eat junk food if they lived alone.” Rin’s eye twitches at the memory and the current Haru grumbling beside him. “Then one day he calls me — Haru, shut up. Mackerel is  _ not  _ worth it.”

“You get a mercury poisoning scare  _ one  _ time…”

“Continue whining and i’ll cut off your entire supply.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Haru mumbles defiantly.

“I know you coerce Makoto behind my back, but I’ll scare him enough so he stops. Don’t test me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“ _ Anyway _ ,” Rin grits, “one day he calls me about waking up and walking funny; I take him to a hospital; they do a blood test and long story short: I make sure he eats proper food like an actual adult.”

Sousuke chuckles at Haru’s misfortune though he can’t really say he does much better in terms of his diet.

The rest of the walk to the apartment is uneventful save for the few times Haru has to stop the group to pause by the curb, feeling the drinks and regret processing through his body.  He’s hit with his second stage of drunkenness that is mainly comprised of dizziness and nausea, but never forgets to voice lengthy apologies paired with appreciation and love at every stop.

After Haru’s first urgent outburst of needing to stop, Rin cautiously eyes him and any burps he has with fear for the rest of the walk, particularly not wanting to shower someone else’s vomit out of his hair tonight. He is thankful for the added body heat and workout from lugging Haru around when he sympathetically notices Sousuke flexing with crossed arms and intermittently jerking his entire body, swinging Haru’s bag when a chilling shudder runs through him.  

They’re a few minutes from the complex when Rin remembers Sousuke’s comment earlier, “I’ve been wondering.”

Haru’s basically absent in trying to fall asleep standing up to push away the feelings of nausea, so Sousuke realizes it’s towards him and raises his brows in question.

“When were you at Haru’s place? I feel like I would’ve remembered you.”  _ I would’ve remembered your eyes, at least,  _ Rin thinks.

“Similar to the same reason I am now,” Sousuke says with a shrug “at last year’s championship celebration he got drunk. I think it was the team’s way of hazing me when I was put in charge of him when we brought him home.”

Rin looks toward Haru amusedly. For someone who swears off alcohol and getting drunk, he sure does it often enough. Maybe not around Rin anymore because of almost giving Haru alcohol poisoning that one time on his 21st birthday, but that's besides the point. Haru musters enough energy to frown, “I was forced.”

“Didn’t know he had a roommate though,” Sousuke comments, ignoring Haru. “I pity you.”

Rin laughs in response as they get to the elevators, knowing that dragging Haru up even four flights of stairs would be a collapsible disaster. Haru similarly ignores Sousuke and pulls out his phone to fiddle with. Rin briefly looks over at the recipient at the top of his phone and the wall of hearts and kissing face emojis Haru’s repeatedly typing. Rin rolls his eyes with a faint smile, thinking of a too ecstatic Makoto on the other end.

* * *

 

With a tightening grip on the duffel bag strap, Sousuke's stomach growls for the fifth time as the elevator agonizingly moves towards the fourth floor. The realization of only eating a banana he grabbed after practice and half of an instant ramen bowl today brutally hit him in the past ten minutes. However, his pride holds him back from asking about when the pizza is going to be ordered and instead, he tries small talk to distract himself.

“How’s studying going?”

“How do you think?” Haru deadpans, looking up from his phone. He gestures to himself slung over Rin, an obvious answer given the situation. Sousuke purses his lips.  _ Duh. _ He shifts his eyes over to Rin expectantly, realizing that he didn’t know anything about him other than being Haru’s friend from middle school. 

“Oh, I'm not in school,” Rin replies, realizing the silence after was left for him to fill. “I work full time.”

Before Sousuke can press further, with a genuine interest he didn’t realize he had, the elevator dings and the doors slide open. They all make a familiar walk to the room tucked at the right end of the hallway. Rin digs through his bag after untangling himself from Haru who stabilizes himself on the door frame after attempting to walk in a straight line again.  

When the door clicks open, Rin is the one who almost falls, Sousuke lurching forward to catch him by instinct. Haru, shoving Rin aside, made an immediate beeline to the bathroom, briskly walking and disappearing to the hallway on the left.

“Thanks,” Rin grumbles and straightens up, glaring towards Haru's direction. They make their way inside and Rin throws his keys on the kitchen island after they toe their shoes off at the small entryway. Sousuke does a general glance of the open room that extends towards the patio doors and lengthens to the right after the entryway. He remembers the kitchen counters that hug the corner on the immediate right and the small living space on the other end, in front of the sliding doors. He may have been here a year ago, but the place seems completely unchanged save some miscellaneous items strewn on the counters. 

Sousuke situates himself at one of the two bar stools tucked under the kitchen island as Rin excuses himself after flicking on the light. He goes to deliver the glass of water he filled and the box of pills he dug through one of the drawers for that Sousuke assumes as antiemetics. He almost asks for one before, as if on cue, his stomach growls again and interrupts him. If only he knew the address. Sousuke takes off Haru’s duffel bag in silent defeat.

Rin comes backs a few minutes later with a laptop balancing on his forearm as he squints at the screen, trying to walk and type at the same time, “I’m  _ starving.” _

_ You’re telling me _ Sousuke thinks looking pointedly towards his very angry stomach, but covers it up with a chuckle that seems less rude to someone who’s about to order him food. He looks up when he hears Rin slump onto the couch in the living space, setting his laptop down with a continuing inquisitive look as he scrolls and types. Instead of being in a low bun, Sousuke notes Rin’s hair out of the elastic, slightly waved and strewn about. He’s changed to sweats and the leather jacket is also replaced by a hoodie two-sizes too large. Sousuke focuses on the sleeve falling from Rin’s shoulder to reveal a tank top that accentuates his defined deltoids and arms that were deceivingly hidden underneath the jacket. Sousuke forgets about food for just a moment.

“Okay, it’s ordered,” Rin sighs, breaking Sousuke’s trance, sitting back from his computer and sinking further into the couch.

“Is Haru alive?” Sousuke asks, almost forgetting his exact reason for being here. Maybe befriending Haru was a good idea. 

“He’s fine. He’ll probably just pass out on the bathroom floor,” Rin pauses, “after drunk dialing Makoto.”

“Isn’t he at an important conference this week?” Sousuke recalls. He’s come to know Makoto after being a familiar face in the tournament crowd and always being in the arena lobby after night practices, doing homework. Sousuke really thought he was just an odd, obsessive fan since even when he would leave practice late, Makoto would still be in the lobby, waiting. Then finally, the one day Sousuke left with Haru was where Makoto broke away from his laptop and started packing up, completely beaming at Haru. It was also the first time Sousuke saw Haru smile out of the water.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll mind,” Rin smirks and gets up from the couch to rummage through the fridge.

“So, you all met in middle school?” Sousuke asks, recognizing familiar faces on a photo magnetized on the untouched freezer door above Rin. He peeks upwards from his crouch and looks at the same photo.

“Elementary,” he corrects, continuing to move things around crudely like a feral animal. Rin dejectedly stands with a sigh after solidifying the reality of having no food in their fridge and looks back at Sousuke, “we swam at the same club.”

“Do you still swim competitively then?” Curiosity envelops Sousuke. 

“No. I left the club after middle school,” Rin shrugs. “Couldn’t afford it.” 

“I see,” Sousuke understands, rolling his shoulder. The extensive amounts of time and money that was needed to continue his swimming career was when the hobby turned into an actual job. Part of him wishes that he would’ve quit in middle school too. 

Rin’s eyes fall towards Sousuke’s chest, “Do you have swimmer’s shoulder?” 

Sousuke tenses. Even before Haru really aggravated it, Sousuke could tell tonight was going to be a flare up of sudden tinges of pain to roll his shoulder to. The dull ache thrumming in his shoulder during practice was enough to know. 

“Ah, it’s something like that.” 

It’s downplayed and Rin knows it, so he narrows his eyes slightly, “I've just been noticing you tug at it after Haru fell on you. Do you want ice or something?” 

Sousuke’s almost grateful for Rin’s perceptiveness despite his efforts in trying to minimize the reality of it all. “Thanks, but really, I'm okay. It just gets a bit aggravated at night sometimes.”

Rin nods and doesn’t press further. He pushes himself away from the counter towards the door in the corner that reveals a pantry. Rin begins rummaging once more. It’s like Sousuke’s watching a video of himself checking in on the same fridge every 20 minutes when he’s out of food. 

“What do you major in?” Rin calls from the pantry.

“Nursing.” Sousuke rests his head on his hand, propping his elbow on the island’s counter.

“Oh, really?...Huh.”

Sousuke raises an eyebrow towards Rin’s back, “what’s that supposed to mean?” 

Rin briskly turns and waves his arm, “didn’t mean to say it like that!” He scrambles, gathering his thinking. “Thought you’d be in kinesiology or PT. The common ‘varsity athlete majors’, you know?

“Half of the team  _ are  _ in those majors, so you’re not wrong,” Sousuke admits, trying to alleviate Rin’s guilt. “Being a doctor is the final goal, but I’d rather get into the field this way.

“Fair enough,” Rin comments before looking over at the clock. “I’m gonna throw a pillow and blanket at Haru. One sec.”

Sousuke lets him go and pulls out his phone, doing an instinctive check on the dates and times of his exams next week. He may check twice every day at the unchanging schedule, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, okay.

Rin comes back with his own phone in hand. The other pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don’t let Haru swim tomorrow.”

“Not much I can do to stop him,” Sousuke mutters. He remembers trying to in the past, but after the third stripping crisis, he learned to just walk away with a silent agreement of meeting somewhere later. “Is he talking about swimming?”   


“I guess you’re right,” Rin sighs, leaning over the island counter and texting Makoto as a final plea. “And he’s not explicitly talking about it, but he’s leaning over the tub and sticking his hand other hand in shallow water. I should be glad it’s not the toilet…”

“Sounds like him.”

Rin laughs, but jumps at the sound of knocking at the door. Sousuke’s brought back to his initial problem and almost drools like a dog as he remembers pizza being ordered. He follows Rin to the door, and brings in the two large boxes while Rin pays the delivery guy who Rin strikes up a conversation with. It begins light, but turns into hushed back and forth whispers before RIn closes the door, face almost as red as the pepperoni on one of the orders. Sousuke doesn’t notice anything, except for a peek of grey hair before he was completely enthralled in the pizza and its smell, almost feeling nauseous. 

“Your friend?” Sousuke asks, eyes trained on the boxes that he set and opened on the island, revealing a pepperoni and plain cheese pizza. 

“Sure.” Rin gathers himself with deep breaths, remembering his hunger. He grabs some plates from the cupboard and hands it over to Sousuke. The two of them sitting in a comfortable silence of pacifying their hunger by demolishing two slices before they even find time to sit. Once finally dignified and in right mind, they move to the couch and throw on a bad movie for background noise which turns into “main noise” as they both become invested in the plot and the flaws. They both outwardly argue at the screen as if it could change the film, agreeing with each other’s commentary like they were doing an official movie review. 

“What happened to the protagonist again?” Sousuke questions.

“I don’t think they explained that.”

“I don’t they they explained _ anything _ .”

“This movie is awful _. _ ”

“Yeah.”

They say as they continue watching the movie. 

* * *

 

“Shit, it’s 1 am.” Sousuke says, finally looking at his phone after the movie ended. Rin drops his fourth pizza, still with a mouthful and whips his head to the wall clock that hangs above the sliding balcony doors. 

“Fuck,” Rin realizes, turning towards Sousuke apologetically. “Sorry for keeping you. You can always stay on the couch— it's technically a pull out bed, but it’s not very comfortable...”

“One of the two of us should at least show up for practice tomorrow, so I'll have to pass” Sousuke politely declines. He’s aware that Haru’s still going to show up, but Sousuke’s not confident in whether he’ll get into the water. Rather, if he’ll be allowed to in the first place. It wouldn’t be the first time coach barred Haru from the pool.

Sousuke stands in preparation to leave and takes off his hat to rake through his hair before fixating it back on, oblivious to Rin’s stare. Sousuke rolls his shoulder once more. 

“Anyway, thanks — ”

“Your number!” Rin blurts, cheeks flushing at his own outburst. Sousuke’s eyes soften at the new shade that compliments his hair. “L-lets exchange numbers....to make sure you get home.” 

“I am perfectly capable of getting home,” Sousuke quips with no actual bite. 

Rin rolls his eyes and walks him to the doorway, leaning on the wall with crossed arms as Sousuke put on his shoes. “You know, you're actually a lot like Haru.”

“Take that back.”

“Denial doesn’t suit you, Sousuke-san~”

Sousuke turns and glares, but stops short at Rin’s phone extended out to him. Rin’s smug as Sousuke grumbles and opens his phone to a new contact. They exchange numbers and Sousuke expresses his condolences in dealing with Haru and his hangover in the morning. They both mutually shudder in unison thinking about it. 

“Also, send me the picture of Haru.”

Sousuke then quietly takes his leave; the shutting of the apartment door is the beginning of a deafening silence. It’s a solitary walk down the hall, into the elevator and past the lobby area — it’s like walking away from one of his one night stands, but it’s  _ different. _

Once he hits the cool air, Sousuke realizes how warm he actually is.

  
  



End file.
